- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Adrianne Appel2022-12-20T20:31:00
A Minnesota-based futures commission merchant was fined $6.5 million by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for anti-money laundering (AML) program gaps and other risk management and recordkeeping failures.
CHS Hedging failed to apply adequate AML policies from January 2017 through December 2020 in the case of an owner of a ranching business and his futures and options trading account, the CFTC alleged in its order published Tuesday. The ranch owner is not named in the order, though the agency listed its case against Cody Easterday and Easterday Ranches under related filings.
Easterday pleaded guilty in March 2021 to criminal charges related to defrauding Tyson Foods and another company out of more than $244 million through a “ghost cattle” scam, in which he billed Tyson and the other company for the costs of purchasing and feeding 265,000 cattle that didn’t exist. He instead used $200 million of the money to cover commodity futures contract trading losses. Easterday was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $244 million in restitution in October.
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Mizuho Capital Markets agreed to pay more than $6.8 million to settle charges from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission it failed to adequately disclose its pre-trade activity on certain foreign exchange forward transactions that disadvantaged customers.
Energy broker Coquest, its owners, and trading affiliates agreed to pay a total of nearly $3 million to resolve allegations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the firm failed in its oversight responsibilities regarding more than 2,000 trades made against its customers.
Cambria Capital agreed to pay $100,000, hire an independent anti-money laundering consultant, and be censured for failing to file suspicious activity reports on certain transactions over a two-year period, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
USAA Federal Savings Bank has been hit with its third cease and desist order from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the past five years for failing to correct unsafe and unsound banking practices.
Becton Dickinson medical device company will pay $175 million for “repeatedly” misleading investors about its Alaris infusion pump, a product the company knew was flawed and was sold without the required patient-safety approvals, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged bankrupt fashion retailer Express with failing to disclose nearly $1 million in perks to a former chief executive, but did not levy a financial penalty thanks to its cooperation, the SEC said.
